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History

Amarillo was laid out in 1887 beside the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway and chosen as the seat of Potter County on Aug 30, 1887.[4] The 1890 census counted 482 residents; the 2020 census counted 200,393.[47]

A chronology of dated, sourced facts. It does not say why anything happened. Each entry links to its source; where sources disagree on a date, the entry gives the year only or is left out.

Founded
1887
county seat from Aug 30, 1887
Census, 1890
482
residents, first count
Census, 2020
200,393
residents
National Register listings
37
in Amarillo, as of May 22, 2026

Timeline

  1. The Texas Legislature created Potter County and Randall County. Neither had a county government yet.[1][2]

  2. J. T. Berry arrived to lay out a townsite for a group of Colorado City merchants, along the route the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway was building across the Panhandle.[3][4]

  3. Voters organized Potter County and chose Berry's townsite as the county seat. The state marker for Amarillo records the electors as 38 LX and 15 Frying Pan ranch hands.[4][1]

  4. The Fort Worth and Denver City Railway's track reached Amarillo.[5][6]

  5. A post office opened. The town took its name from Arroyo Amarillo, a nearby creek named by early Spanish travelers; the settlement had first been called Oneida.[3][4]

  6. Henry B. Sanborn and Joseph F. Glidden, owners of the Frying Pan Ranch, bought four sections of land east of the original townsite and laid out the Glidden and Sanborn Addition.[3][7]

  7. Randall County, south of Amarillo, was organized by election, with Canyon City (now Canyon) as its county seat.[2]

  8. After heavy rains flooded the original townsite, residents began moving to the Glidden and Sanborn Addition. By 1890 the center of town had moved there.[4][3]

  9. The census counted 482 residents in Amarillo.[8]

  10. Residents voted to incorporate the city, and the first city elections followed in April, according to Paul Carlson's history of Amarillo as cited by the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum's Research Center.[9]

  11. Glidden and Sanborn divided their holdings, with Sanborn keeping the town interests and Glidden the ranch. The city's list of officials begins the same year with a mayor and aldermen serving 1892 to 1894.[4][7][10]

  12. State markers record Amarillo as the largest rural cattle shipping point in the nation from 1892 to 1897.[4][11]

  13. A second county seat election moved the Potter County seat to the new town site.[3]

  14. The city's list of officials shows the city government as "Enjoined" from 1894 to 1899, with no mayor or aldermen listed.[10]

  15. Construction began on the Pecos and Northern Texas Railway, a line from Amarillo through Randall County toward the South Plains.[4][2]

  16. Residents voted to incorporate and elected a mayor, according to the Handbook of Texas, after the city government had been enjoined since 1894. The city's list of officials resumes with a mayor and aldermen for 1899 to 1902.[3][10]

  17. The Santa Fe acquired the Pecos Valley and North Eastern Railway and moved the line's headquarters from Panhandle to Amarillo.[12]

  18. The first public school on Polk Street, a red brick building with room for 284 students, opened. Its site became Amarillo High School's in 1922.[13]

  19. Four Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word opened St. Anthony's Sanitarium, Potter County's first hospital, in a 14-room brick building. The state marker gives 1901 as the founding year.[14]

  20. The Choctaw, Oklahoma and Texas Railroad, chartered in 1901 to extend a Choctaw line from the Oklahoma border near Texola to Amarillo, built 98 miles of track to Yarnall and reached Amarillo over other railroads' tracks.[15]

  21. Twelve local women organized the Potter County free library. The county commissioners court approved a county-supported library in July 1921, and its building at 519 South Taylor Street was built in 1922 for $25,000.[16]

  22. The Choctaw, Oklahoma and Texas, which had finished its own track into Amarillo late in 1903, was merged into the Chicago, Rock Island and Gulf Railway, a Rock Island subsidiary.[15][17]

  23. By 1903 the Southern Kansas; the Pecos and Northern Texas; and the Chicago, Rock Island and Gulf railways also served Amarillo.[3]

  24. The Santa Fe extended its main line to Amarillo from Panhandle and built a link from Texico to Belen, New Mexico, putting Amarillo on its transcontinental route.[12]

  25. The Chicago, Rock Island and Gulf completed a line west from Amarillo to the New Mexico border near Glenrio.[17]

  26. A new city charter set up the council-manager form of government, the first in Texas according to the City of Amarillo. The city's first manager served from 1913 to 1916.[18]

  27. Natural gas was struck at the Masterson No. 1 well in Potter County, about 25 miles northwest of Amarillo, the discovery well of the Panhandle gas field.[19][5][1]

  28. The Gulf No. 2 Burnett well in Carson County, east of Amarillo, began producing oil, about 190 barrels a day.[19]

  29. The Amarillo Tri-State Exposition was chartered, with participants from Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas. The fair's property on Southeast 10th Avenue was bought in 1924.[20]

  30. The road along Amarillo's Sixth Street became part of the federally designated U.S. Route 66.[21][22]

  31. The U.S. Bureau of Mines chose a site about eight miles west of downtown for a helium plant, and construction began that year.[23]

  32. Scheduled air service to Amarillo began, with Western Air Express flights from Los Angeles landing at the municipal airport west of town.[24]

  33. The Amarillo Helium Plant, operated by the U.S. Bureau of Mines, began production. A state marker says it supplied nearly all of the world's helium from 1929 to 1943.[23][25][26]

  34. The census counted 43,132 residents, up from 15,494 in 1920. The 14-story Santa Fe Building, finished in 1930, was the city's tallest building until the 1970s.[8][27]

  35. The current Potter County Courthouse, the county's fifth, was completed after construction from 1930 to 1932.[28]

  36. Ernest O. Thompson, mayor of Amarillo from 1929 to 1932, was appointed to the Railroad Commission of Texas, where he later won election and served as chairman for many years.[29][10]

  37. The "Black Sunday" dust storm reached Amarillo at 7:20 p.m.; a newspaper report the next day said visibility was zero for 12 minutes.[30]

  38. Amarillo Army Air Field was activated as a training base.[31]

  39. The Pantex Ordnance Plant, on land the War Department took in 1942, produced its first bomb. At its wartime peak, more than 5,200 people worked there.[32]

  40. The Pantex Ordnance Plant closed. In 1947 and 1949 its land went to Texas Tech for an agricultural experiment station.[32]

  41. Amarillo Army Air Field was deactivated.[31]

  42. A tornado struck Amarillo, killing seven people.[3]

  43. President Harry S. Truman signed Public Law 898, which authorized the federal Canadian River Project to build a dam and aqueduct supplying water to Amarillo and other High Plains cities.[33][34]

  44. The Atomic Energy Commission reclaimed the Pantex site for nuclear weapons work, and the air field reopened in March as Amarillo Air Force Base.[32][31]

  45. English Field, Amarillo's commercial airport since 1930, was renamed Amarillo Air Terminal.[24]

  46. A Texas constitutional amendment authorized the Canadian River Municipal Water Authority, approved by voters in eleven cities including Amarillo, to supply them with water.[35]

  47. Route 66 moved off Sixth Street to Amarillo Boulevard, a four-lane divided road built along North Eighth to keep through traffic out of downtown. Its paved section west of Fillmore was dedicated at the end of 1953; the eastern stretches were finished in 1962.[36][37]

  48. The federal Bureau of Public Roads approved the Texas route of Interstate 40, from the New Mexico line near Glenrio through Amarillo to the Oklahoma line east of Shamrock.[38]

  49. The census counted 137,969 residents, up from 74,246 in 1950.[8]

  50. Sanford Dam on the Canadian River began impounding water, forming the lake later named Lake Meredith. The dam was built from 1962 to 1965 under the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.[39][35]

  51. The first water from Lake Meredith reached Amarillo through the first 37 miles of the Canadian River Aqueduct, pouring into the City's 48-acre regulating reservoir at NE 24th and the Fritch Highway at 37,000 gallons a minute while about 200 people watched. The Amarillo Daily News put the project's cost at $83,805,000.[40][9]

  52. Sanford Dam and Lake Meredith were dedicated, according to the Canadian River Municipal Water Authority. The last joint of the Canadian River Aqueduct pipe was laid the same year.[34]

  53. Amarillo High School, then on Polk Street, was integrated, according to the state marker for the Polk Street schools.[13]

  54. Regular water deliveries from Lake Meredith through the Canadian River Aqueduct began. On July 1, 1968, the Bureau of Reclamation transferred operation and maintenance of the project to the Canadian River Municipal Water Authority.[33][34]

  55. Amarillo Air Force Base closed, after its last class graduated on December 11. Part of the site later became the city's air terminal, which opened there in May 1971.[31]

  56. The Amarillo Helium Plant stopped producing helium. The census counted 127,010 residents, down from 137,969 in 1960.[23][41]

  57. A fire destroyed the third floor and auditorium of Amarillo High School's Polk Street building. The school was rebuilt on Danbury Street, and the Polk Street block was sold to Amarillo College.[13]

  58. Congress renamed Sanford Reservoir as Lake Meredith. The same year, the Ant Farm art group installed Cadillac Ranch, ten Cadillacs set nose-down in a field outside the city.[39][42][43]

  59. A state highway commission minute order dated April 18, 1985, cancelled the U.S. 66 designation across Texas, about 177 miles from the New Mexico line to the Oklahoma line. A National Register study by the Texas Historical Commission says Interstate 40 had replaced the route.[44][37]

  60. The U.S. Route 66–Sixth Street Historic District, 13 blocks of commercial buildings along Sixth Avenue, was listed in the National Register of Historic Places.[21][45]

  61. Cadillac Ranch was moved two miles farther west.[42][43]

  62. The Amarillo Helium Plant closed, two years after a 1996 federal law ended funding for federal helium operations.[23]

  63. The city's airport was named for Rick Husband, who was born in Amarillo in 1957 and was among the seven astronauts killed when the space shuttle Columbia broke apart on February 1, 2003.[46]

  64. The census counted 200,393 residents, the first count above 200,000.[47]

Population, 1890–2020

City of Amarillo, every decennial census, as first published. Each count covers the city limits of its day. Change between censuses is our calculation.

050k100k150k200k18901920195019802010Census count, 1890: 482Census count, 1900: 1,442Census count, 1910: 9,957Census count, 1920: 15,494Census count, 1930: 43,132Census count, 1940: 51,686Census count, 1950: 74,246Census count, 1960: 137,969Census count, 1970: 127,010Census count, 1980: 149,230Census count, 1990: 157,615Census count, 2000: 173,627Census count, 2010: 190,695Census count, 2020: 200,393
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, decennial census reports.
Line chart: Amarillo's census population rose from 482 in 1890 to 200,393 in 2020, with a decline between 1960 and 1970.
xCensus count
1890482
19001,442
19109,957
192015,494
193043,132
194051,686
195074,246
1960137,969
1970127,010
1980149,230
1990157,615
2000173,627
2010190,695
2020200,393
Amarillo population by census year
CensusPopulation% change
1890Table 5, p. 45-21 [8]482—
1900Table 5, p. 45-21 [8]1,442+199.2%
1910Table 5, p. 45-21 [8]9,957+590.5%
1920Table 5, p. 45-21 [8]15,494+55.6%
1930Table 5, p. 45-21 [8]43,132+178.4%
1940Table 5, p. 45-21 [8]51,686+19.8%
1950Table 5, p. 45-21 [8]74,246+43.6%
1960Table 5, p. 45-21 [8]137,969+85.8%
1970Table 9, p. Texas 71 [41]127,010−7.9%
1980Table 9, p. Texas 71 [41]149,230+17.5%
1990Table 9, p. Texas 71 [41]157,615+5.6%
20002000 SF1, table P001 [47]173,627+10.2%
20102010 SF1, table P1 [47]190,695+9.8%
20202020 PL, table P1 [47]200,393+5.1%

1890–1960 counts are from the 1960 census report for Texas, which lists each city of 10,000 or more back to its earliest census; 1970–1990 from the 1990 count report for Texas; 2000–2020 from data.census.gov. The Census Bureau sometimes revises a count after publication; these are the published figures.

Potter and Randall counties

Amarillo lies in both counties. County totals include the city and everything else in each county. Potter County was organized in 1887 and Randall in 1889, so the series starts in 1890. The combined column is our sum.

Potter and Randall county population by census year
CensusPotterRandallCombined
1890[48]8491871,036
1900[48]1,8209632,783
1910[49]12,4243,31215,736
1920[50]16,7103,67520,385
1930[50]46,0807,07153,151
1940[41]54,2657,18561,450
1950[41]73,36613,77487,140
1960[41]115,58033,913149,493
1970[41]90,51153,885144,396
1980[41]98,63775,062173,699
1990[41]97,87489,673187,547
2000[51]113,546104,312217,858
2010[51]121,073120,725241,798
2020[51]118,525140,753259,278

Landmarks

Properties in the National Register of Historic Places whose National Park Service record gives the city as Amarillo (37, in Potter and Randall counties), by date listed. National Park Service export of May 22, 2026.[45]

National Register of Historic Places listings in Amarillo
ListedProperty
Bivins House1000 Polk St.
McBride Ranch HouseN of Amarillo in Lake Meredith Recreation Area
Landergin-Harrington House1600 Polk St.
Shelton-Houghton House1700 Polk St.
First Baptist Church218 W. 13th St.
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company Depot and Locomotive No. 5000307 S. Grant
Central Presbyterian Church1100 Harrison St.
Amarillo College Administration Building and Gymnasium2201 S. Washington St. and 2221 S. Washington St.
Polk Street Methodist Church1401 S. Polk St.
Plemons-Mrs. M. D. Oliver-Eakle Additions Historic DistrictRoughly bounded by 16th Ave., Taylor St., 26th Ave., Van Buren St., I-40 and Madison St.
Llano Cemetery Historic District2900 South Hayes (Randall County)
Wolflin Historic DistrictRoughly bounded by Wolflin Ave., Washington St., SW. 34th Ave., Parker St., SW. 30th Ave. and Lipscomb St.
Curtis, Alice Ghormley, House1626 S. Washington St.
Jons-Gilvin House1500 S. Buchanan St.
Kouns-Jackson House1118 S. Harrison St.
Sanborn, Henry B. and Ellen M., House1311 S. Madison St.
Bivins, Miles and Myda, House2311 W. 16th Ave.
US Route 66-Sixth Street Historic DistrictSixth Ave. between Georgia and Forrest Aves.
Ranchotel2501 W. Sixth Ave.
Potter County Courthouse and Library501 S. Taylor St.
Santa Fe Building900 S. Polk St.
Northwest Texas Hospital School of Nursing2209 W. 6th Ave.
Douglas DC-3 Airplane, N34Texas Air & Space Museum, 10001 American Dr.
Amarillo Globe Dream House3104 S. Harrison (Randall County)
Amarillo US Post Office and Courthouse205 E. Fifth St.
McMillen Apartments1320 S. Fillmore
Triangle Motel7804, 7808, 7954, and 8024 E Amarillo Blvd
Fisk Medical Arts Building724 S. Polk St.
Vineyard Manor1201 S. Polk St.
Smith, Louis H., Inc. Firestone Store1004 S. Tyler St.
Levine's Department Store800 S. Polk St.
Amarillo Building301 S Polk
Oliver-Eakle-Barfield Building600 S. Polk St.
American National Bank of Amarillo and SPS Tower600 S. Tyler St.
St. Anthony’s Hospital200 NW 7th Ave.
Herring Hotel311 SE 3rd Avenue
Green Acres Apartments3118 SW 15th Ave.